The first reading is Genesis 11:1-9.
A reading from Acts (2:1-21)
When
the day of Pentecost arrived,
The
apostles all met in one room.
Suddenly
they heard what sounded like a violent, rushing wind from heaven;
the
noise filled the entire house in which they were sitting.
Something
appeared to them that seemed like tongues of fire;
these
separated and came to rest on the head of each one.
They
were all filled with the Holy Spirit
and
began to speak in other languages as
she enabled them.
Now there were devout people living in Jerusalem
Now there were devout people living in Jerusalem
from
every nation under heaven
and
at this sound they all assembled.
But
they were bewildered to hear their native languages being spoken.
They
were amazed and astonished:
“Surely
all of these people speaking are Galileans!
How
does it happen that each of us hears these words
in
our native tongue?
We
are Parthians, Medes and Elamites,
people
from Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia,
Pontus
and Asia,
Phyrgia
and Pamphlyia,
Egypt
and the parts of Lybia around Cyrene,
as
well as visitors from Rome –
both
Jewish-born and converts to Judaism –
Cretans
and Arabs, too;
we
hear them preaching,
each
in our own language,
about
the marvels of God!”
All were amazed and disturbed.
All were amazed and disturbed.
They
asked each other,
“What
does this mean?”
But
others said mockingly,
“They
have drunk too much new wine.”
Then Peter stood up with the Eleven and addressed the crowd:
Then Peter stood up with the Eleven and addressed the crowd:
“People
of Judea, and all you who live in Jerusalem!
Listen
to what I have to say!
These
people are not drunk as you think –
it’s
only nine o’clock in the morning!
No,
it’s what Joel the prophet spoke of –
‘In the days to come –
‘In the days to come –
it
is our God who speaks –
I will pour out my Spirit on all of
humankind.
Your
children will prophesy,
your
young people will see visions,
and
your elders will dream dreams.
Even
on the most insignificant of my people,
upon
all of them,
I
will pour out my Spirit in those days
and
they will prophesy.
And
I will display wonders in the heavens above
and
signs on the earth below:
blood,
fire and billowing smoke.
The
sun will be turned into darkness
and
the moon will become blood
before
the coming of the great and sublime day of our God.
Pero todos los que invoquen el nombre del Señor, alcanzarán la salvación.
Alors tout le monde que les appels sur le nom du Seigneur seront épargnés.
A vtedy každý, kto bude vzývať meno Pánovo, bude zachránený.
And all who call upon the name of our God
will be saved.’”
Word of God, word of life.
Happy Pentecost!!
Pentecost is one of my favorite days of the whole entire year! I love Pentecost because on it we
celebrate the work of the Holy Spirit and she’s my favorite.
Pentecost gathers our story of faith, bringing the various
parts of the story together and capturing what it means to be the church
together—the body of Christ in the world.
From the beginnings when God creates the whole cosmos, the Spirit
brooding over the waters, until today. God continues to create as the universe expands and we all
continue to live and grow. Again
and again God creates humanity in our full diversity, in the image of God. God promises to love us, even as,
throughout the ages, we have done our best to take God’s place.
As
we read today in Genesis, humanity has a penchant for trying to take over for
God. As they gather in the area
that will become known as Babel, the group of humans attempt to build a city
and a tower to heaven, where God was understood to reside. The humans, bless their hearts, justify
their actions, saying, “and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise
we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” They want to be in control of it
all. They don’t want to risk God’s
intervention, wrecking their plans for power and prestige.
Ironically
it is precisely this desire for control and power that leads to God scattering
them and confusing their languages—a blessing for those of us who enjoy
learning new languages J
So
we are scattered. And we develop
different languages, cultures, and customs. We find different ways to praise our God and to live our
lives. Our different languages are
informed by our cultures, the many words for snow or sand, depending on where
we live, words for wintertime coziness and experiences unique to various
cultures. And in turn our
different languages inform our cultures as we continue to come up with new
words and definitions, new ways of speaking to and about others, even God.
And
throughout it all, God continues to come to us, sending prophets and leaders,
calling us back to God’s ways of love, bringing us out of captivity into
freedom, and celebrating those new chances at life with us.
And
ultimately God comes to us by taking on our very flesh. God chooses to come to us, born to a
poor homeless couple, spending the first part of life undocumented, living as a
refugee in Egypt, and returning to Palestine to live under Roman rule and
occupation. In the midst of it
all, God in Jesus continues to love us, seeking the lost, oppressed, and
outcast. He goes to “those people”
the rest of us would rather avoid.
For
all of the love and compassion Jesus shows, the response from the powers of
this world, humanity’s own response, is to choose death over the life God
freely offers us in Jesus. We
choose the violence of the cross and Jesus takes on the cross, dying to destroy
death and then rising, bringing to life the ultimate covenant of love, bringing
new hope and everlasting life to begin anew every day.
And
then even as Jesus ascends to heaven, God’s love is so great that God promises
us the Holy Spirit. Our Advocate
will come to be with us. The Holy
Spirit is promised and she delivers!
At
Pentecost, the beginning of the first harvests, the apostles gather in
Jerusalem and the Holy Spirit comes CRASHING in! The roar of a violent wind in
everyone’s ears, flames like fire appearing before everyone’s eyes. If this is not a recipe for full
sensory overload, then I don’t know what is.
The
Holy Spirit comes with the chaos that reigned when she moved over the waters at
the beginning of creating. As the
room fills with chaos and confusion from heaven, the gathered apostles add to
the confusion, confessing faith and proclaiming the love of God. Heaven breaks into the earthly
gathering of followers of Christ.
At
Pentecost, God’s presence in the Holy Spirit is experienced with chaos and
uncertainty. People are
bewildered, amazed and astonished, amazed and disturbed, snarky, and prophetic. Out of this chaos, in many songs and
languages is sung the love of God made manifest through the Holy Spirit.
And
even as it all settles back down, the Holy Spirit remains.
Jesus
has ascended and yet the Holy Spirit remains to breathe among us, to move as we
move and grow as we grow. And so
the Holy Spirit continues to move even into today, calling us with the prophets
to lives of justice and peace.
Four
years ago, the Holy Spirit moved among us, calling these two congregations into
one worshiping community. The
Holy Spirit calls us and claims us as one community of faith. This month we also mark the 60th
anniversary of women’s ordination in the Presbyterian Church.
As we have prayed on street corners and
with folded pieces of paper, the Holy Spirit has continued to breathe among us,
calling us into deeper relationships, boldly guiding us into the future, even
remaining with us in our uncertainty.
The
Holy Spirit moves with us in our discomfort. When we don’t understand. Cuando alguien habla un idioma diferente. When we disagree and even when we are
afraid. One of the key ways that I
discern that the Holy Spirit might be at work is if I’m nervous, afraid, or a
little anxious, especially if mixed in with those feelings there’s an
inexplicable hint of excitement or pull toward something.
That’s
how the Holy Spirit works, coming in with chaos and confusion, calling us and
moving with us into new life and new ways of being the church together for the
sake of the whole world.
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